Blockchain Gets Personal

You might have noticed that I’ve hijacked this week’s Markets & Money.

Every day I’m banging on about something I call ‘Beyond Bitcoin’.

Here’s why…

‘Beyond Bitcoin’ is not something I see taking place in the distant future.

It’s actually only a matter of days and weeks away.

You can’t afford to sit back and admire this from afar. And then leisurely jump into a few stocks after tea and biscuits!

It’s happening right now.

At the start of 2017, less than US$300 million had been raised through initial coin offerings (ICOs). As of a few days ago, on 11 October, that figure had ballooned to US$2.67 billion, according to CoinDesk.

But that only tells a fraction of the story of what’s really unfolding behind the scenes. That’s the story I’ll be telling you in full when I release my research next Tuesday.

That’s why I’ve taken the helm at Markets & Money this week. To give you the background on a big step-change in the blockchain space. A pivotal moment where the bitcoin boom bleeds out into everything else. And it’s a moment that’s going to occur on a specific date in November…

THIS IS EXTREMELY URGENT

You see, smart money is already starting to move.

Just yesterday I read that leading investors Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and AngelList CEO Naval Ravikant have put big funds in this very spot.

And they’re just the latest.

It’s happening everywhere…

Australia, Japan and Germany are all prototyping blockchains for their stock exchanges.

The NASDAQ is running test trials.

The TMX is already using blockchain tech for oil and gas contract trading.

The US Department of Defense is now integrating blockchain tech for secure chat-based platforms — they hold it in high regard when it comes to security.

The Ethereum Alliance is basically composed of Fortune 500 companies that are seed investors in this very space.

Here’s the thing…

A ‘special’ group of stocks will benefit from all this. They’re the ones right at the pivot point.

A little known Canadian stock called Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd [TSX:HIVE] listed on 18 September at $0.96 and is now at $2.98.

That’s a 110% return in just one month. Just to be clear: That’s a stock, not a cryptocurrency!

All in anticipation of the revolution set to begin.

You need to read the full report ASAP when it comes out on Tuesday.

By the time you see the tangible results of why this key moment has changed the world, the unbelievable investment opportunities will be long gone.

The pivotal moment is now.

It’s like 2007 and you’re seeing the first smartphone, or 1958 and you’re hearing about the microchip, or 1898 and you’re revving up a diesel engine for the first time.

It’s that big…

Your life could be about to change. With or without you profiting.

Today, I’ll tell you a quick anecdote about your new life…

A Glimpse into Your Future

I went to the doctor’s last week to get some moles on my back checked out. I don’t go to the doctor’s very much, so I don’t have a regular GP.

Arriving at the clinic, I got out my smartphone and opened my Block Health app.

Block Health stores and updates my entire medical history. It uses a blockchain-based system that keeps my data secure and private.

Importantly, I give access only to people who need it when it’s necessary.

I was in control of the information with a biometric key that scanned my face upon opening the app. There was also a four-digit pin number as additional protection.

I then simply went on the app and selected the GP and transferred the relevant (and only the relevant) data to her Block Health GP system.

It compared the size and composition of my moles against data stored in the blockchain. It also compared it against the latest research into skin cancers to make sure there was no new early warning signs.

But no data was actually transferred…I’ll come back to this shortly.

Even better than that, it also scanned information from my relative’s medical history — who I’ve linked to on the app — to provide the doctor a more accurate assessment of my ‘at risk’ status.

To be clear, my doctor doesn’t get to see the relative’s health data.

That would go against privacy laws.

But, as they have linked their data-feed to my account, the Block Health app can detect true or false statements from their medical history and feed that into a risk assessment for me.

It sounds weird. But while the underlying data remains hidden, the app can still make calculations based on these true or false statements.

This mathematical feat is known as ‘zero knowledge proofs.’

And it’s one huge advantage of blockchain technology. The ability to make calculations and work with private, unknown encrypted data. And still generate useful results you know are based on correct information.

Amazing!

I was in and out of the clinic in just 10 minutes.

Everything was OK and the results were stored on my Block Health app for future reference.

The True Story

This story isn’t true…yet.

What is true is that I went to the doctor to get some moles checked out.

They told me to get there 20 minutes early as I’d have forms to fill in.

When I got there, they gave me a clipboard, a pen that didn’t work properly, and three pages of forms.

I couldn’t remember the answers to some of the questions, or whether they were important. Was the fact that I had asthma as a child relevant or not?

When I saw the doctor, she read the forms and asked me about my medical history. I told her that I hardly ever saw the doctor and that all was good.

Then, suddenly, I remembered that I had a mole cut out of my back seven years ago. How did I forget to put that on the form!?

She asked me about my family history.

‘All good,’ I confidently stated.

Later that day I remembered I had a relative who had cancer. I forgot to tell her this at the time. It slipped my mind. Was it important?

I don’t know…

She checked out the moles visually and said that it all looked fine to her and that I had nothing to worry about.

All up, I was there around 45 minutes.

Now, this story seems pleasant enough. And it was. And I’m sure the diagnosis was fine too.

But think how much better the first situation was. Less chance of human error — from doctor or patient.

No crucial little detail overlooked. A complete record of every finding, available at your fingertips. But still private and owned by you.

State of the art research constantly humming in the background.

Not to mention the time saved filling forms and finding out my (hazy recollection of) medical history.

You could be confident the correct data was all at hand. And you’d get an accurate diagnosis.

Blockchains Will Run the World

I’m not simply talking about one big central database. Or silos of data held by governments or health services.

As you’ll have seen recently, such centralised stores of data are honeypots for hackers and criminals.

That’s pre-blockchain thinking.

Instead, think of it like a decentralised web of data (see image below). Data that joins together in many different ways when specific parties allow it to.

In the hypothetical example before, you remained in control of the data-flow.

It was your data.

You could select relevant data to pass on with assistance from the app itself.

The expert — the doctor in this case — would have a lot better information to make an assessment. But they wouldn’t have access to other private information that isn’t relevant.

They would also have the assistance of the latest research. And the data collected from you in the consultation could contribute to that shared data pool to further scientific and medical research — if you allowed it to of course.

You’d be confidently supplying data without exposing the actual data itself. It’s crazy, I know, but this is what’s going to happen.

The fact you forgot (or in some cases might not know) about a relative’s health condition could be crucially important in diagnosing a whole raft of diseases.

Hereditary issues are a major factor in disease risk.

The fictional Block Health app I talked about allowed access to a world of data without impinging on privacy using an amazing thing called zero knowledge proofs.

This wasn’t possible until this month.

And it changes the game for data. And, in turn, the world.

Tomorrow I’m going to talk about why blockchains are going to change the game of investing also. They will actually affect the very method professionals use to value certain companies.

Knowing about this now is the key to getting in at the ground-floor of the 2018 boom we’re about to see.

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